Coping with stress among preschool children and associations with anxiety level and controllability of situations

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to describe how preschoolers (4-5 years old, N=94) cope with stress based on parent ratings on the Children's Coping Scale Revised. A second aim was to investigate how coping in preschoolers may be associated with the anxiety level of the child and controllability of the stressor, as measured by parent ratings on the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale and children's coping in two different situations of varying controllability. Three distinct dimensions of coping were identified-positive coping, negative coping-emotional expression, and negative coping-emotional inhibition. As predicted, preschoolers rated higher on anxiety were more likely to engage in negative..